Receptacle



April 5, 1952 J. E. BUTLER 2,593,384

RECEPTACLE Filed Jan. 18, 1949 INVENTOR JOSEPH E... BUTLER FIG.3 Jzrm/m ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECEPTACLE Joseph E. Butler, Montgomery County, Md., as- Signor of forty per cent to Robert N. Price and forty per cent to Jerald S. Howe, both of Washington, D. 0.

Application January 18, 1949, Serial No. 71,415

3 Claims. (Cl. 312-319) prising a housing, a tumbler'engaging member carried at the upper end of the housin vthe housing containing a transverse opening below the member, a drawer movable through the opening to a closed position with respect to the housing, and a closure carried by the drawer for covering the opening when the drawer assumes its closed position. The housing may havea cylindrical wall defining a socket forengaging the tumbler, in which case, the drawer receiving opening will be formed in the cylindrical wall below the socket, and the closure will preferably be arcuate to conform with the cylindrical wall. Thus the receptacle defines, in eifect, a continuation of the tumbler base, which can readily and naturally be grasped by the human hand.

Resilient means may be provided in the housing for biasing the drawer to an open position, and latch means may be employed for retaining the drawer in its closed position. Such latch means may be carried by the housing and project therethrough for ready accessibility. A partition or false bottom may be interposed in the housing between the tumbler receiving socket and the drawer. The drawer may partake of linear or arcuate movement, for which purposes,

the housing will provide suitable guide or pivot means respectively for the drawer.

A detent may be carried by the housing for retaining the drawer in its closed position, in

cooperation with a stop carried by the drawer,

the stop extending outwardly from the drawer for engagement with the housing to serve additionally to limit outward movement of the drawer when it assumes its open position.

A more complete understanding of the invention will follow from a description of the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of one form of the receptacle;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation taken along line 5--5 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan taken along line 6-5 of Fig. 4.

With reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the receptacle assumes the form of a housing having a base l0 and a cylindrical wall l2 which is open at its top to provide a socket M. The socket is terminated above the base [0 by means of a partition or false bottom IE suitably secured to the cylindrical wall I2. Intermediate the base Ill and partition [6,. the cylindrical wall is pro- .vided with a transverse opening l8 for the reception of a drawer 20 having a bottom 22, side walls 24, a back 26 and an arcuate front 23 defining a closure for the opening l8 when the drawer assumes its closed position as depicted in Fig. 3. The housing is provided with guides 30 to maintain proper alignment of the drawer during its opening and closing movements. A spring 32 is interposed between the cylindrical wall of the housing and the back 26 of the drawer, shown as underpompression in Fig. 3, and extended in Fig. 2, which spring biases the drawer towards its open position as depicted in Fig. 2. In order to retain the drawer in the closed position as appears in Fig. 3, in opposition to the force of the spring, a detent 34 is mounted in the housing by means of a pivot 36 so that one of its ends 38 is biased by means of a spring 40 into the path of a stop 42 carried by one side 24 of the drawer. The other end of the detent may be moved by means of an operator 44 projecting through the cylindrical wall of the housing, so that when the operator is depressed, the detent will swing about its pivot 36 against the force of the spring 40 until its opposite end is withdrawn from the path of the stop 42, whereupon the spring 32 will expand to project the drawer 20 to the open position shown in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1, a drinking glass or tumbler 46 is depicted in broken lines as frictional'ly received by the rim 48 defined at the upper end of the housing.

The modification shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 difiers primarily from the previous embodiment by having its drawer in movable arcuately about a pivot 48a carried by the housing. In this case, a tension sprin 32 has one of its ends secured to the housing and the other to the drawer. so that when the detent 34 is actuated by depressing the operator 44 formed integrally therewith, it swings about its pivot 36 to retract its opposite end 38 from the path of the drawer carried stop 42, against the force of the leaf spring 40 carried by the detent and bearing against the cylindrical wall of the housing, whereupon, the drawer will open as the spring 32 contracts-and comes to rest when the stop 42 engages the housing wall.

Here again, the rim 48 formed at the upper end the base of a drinking glass or tumbler 46 sufficiently to prevent accidental separation.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that the device contemplated herein may be constructed from various materials including wood, plastics and metals, which may be fabricated or molded in accordance with known practices. The drawer will be highly serviceable for many uses including the storage of medicines, the reception of ashes, and other purposes. It will be clear that when the drawer is closed, its contents will not be spilled when the receptacle is elevated and tilted as it would be when drinking from a glass supported in the housing.

' Whereas only two embodiments of the invention have been described, many variations already contemplated by the inventor will be sug gested by the foregoing description and accordingly, the invention should not be restricted thereto beyond the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A portable receptacle comprising a housing having a vertical Wall and a bottom wall, said vertical wall containing an opening intermediate its height, a container movable through said opening to a closed position with respect to said housing, a front wall carried by said container covering said opening when said container as: sumes its closed position, a spring within said housing biasing said container outwardly towards itsopen position, a latch pivotally mounted on a vertical axis in said housing for restraining said container against the force of said spring, a latch operator projecting through said vertical wall, a lug mounted on a rearwardly disposed portion of said container alternately engageable with said latch and a portion of said housing to restrain said container in its closed and open positions respectively, and a top wall located above said opening and covering said container in its closed position.

2. A portable receptacle as set forth in claim 1, wherein said housing carries guide means for said container and said container is linearly movable with respect to said housing.

3. A portable receptacle as set forth in claim 1, wherein said housing is pivotally related to said container and said container is arcuately movable through said opening.

JOSEPH E. BUTLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

